Last month, Intel released its third-generation Xeon scalable CPU family known as Cooper Lake, based on the 14nm architecture. Now some people in mainland China are holding the first QS Cooper Lake chips that reveal an interesting design for the LGA 4189 family of CPUs based on the Cedar Island platform.
Intel 14nm Cooper Lake-SP Xeon QS CPU developed, features 20 HCC die cores and gold plated soldering with liquid metal thermal compound
The person who posted this to Bilibili (via Momomo_US) claims that this particular Cooper Lake-SP qualification sample is the Intel Xeon Gold 5320H. The CPU features 20 cores, 40 threads, based on the 14nm ++ process node, and comes with a 2.2 GHz base clock. According to the IHS code, this particular chip was produced in 2019, earlier August, so it’s been gone for a year before the official launch in June 2020.
Now the official specifications of the Xeon Gold 5320H mention a 2.4 GHz base clock and a 4.3 GHz boost clock. The difference in clock speeds is due once again to the qualifying nature of the chip itself that was performed before it The official specifications for the Cooper Lake-SP line will be finalized. But the base clock isn’t the only change we see on this chip compared to its final retail form.
Just looking at the IHS, we see a striking resemblance to the older version of Cooper Lake (CPX-4) than the Cooper Lake (CPX-6) version that was officially released last month. The Intel Cooper Lake line was initially designed for the Cedar Island and Whitley platforms, but the Whitley version (CPX-4) was later retained. We were expected to get as many as 56 cores and 112 threads, but Intel will now only release its 10nm Ice Lake-SP CPUs for the Whitley platform, marking a major upgrade within the Xeon landscape since the launch of Skylake-SP All the Way 2015
Twitter user Brutus (@ brutuscat2) has posted some more high-quality photos of the Cooper Lake-SP QS CPU:
Continuing, the chip was also deluded, revealing its dual-pack design, which is a common design option used by Intel these days. Silicon is located in a separate packet interleaver located on top of the main PCB. Sitting next to the Xeon W-3175X, the Cooper Lake-SP looks so much bigger and that’s why it needs a bigger plug (LGA 4189) to accommodate it compared to the latest generation Cascade Lake-SP Xeons (LGA 3647).
Other cool details include the materials used underneath the IHS that show a gold brazed design and a high quality liquid metal thermal compound. We can’t say for sure if the retail variants also feature gold-plated solder like this rating chip. Considering that the competition already does, I would go on and say that Cooper Lake-SP uses the same materials in retail chips. The CPU also does not share the same socket key as the official Cooper Lake-SP CPU. It is more in line with the Whitley platform socket key confirming that this CPU is just one of the many abandoned parts of Cooper Lake-SP (CXP-4).
Another interesting detail that is exposed by this delid, which would also remain hidden otherwise, is the fact that the chip uses an HCC (High Core Count) die and not the XCC (Extreme Core Count) that allows more than 18 cores. HCC dies scale up to 18 cores, but here you can see an HCC die used for a chip with 20 cores and 40 threads.
According to the images, the die looks almost identical to the HCC die featured on the Cascade Lake-SP chips. We are not sure how it is possible, but this is what the user who has the chips in his hands has to say. The Intel Cooper Lake-SP Xeon CPU family is already on sale and shipping, while Ice Lake-SP is expected to start shipping in late 2020.
